


Stray Cat Strut

by blackkat



Series: Cracky KisaObi AUs [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 21:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15542646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: There have to besomebenefits to being the only housecat in a family of goddamn panthers. Cozying up to the neighbor just happens happens to be one of them, in Obito's opinion.





	Stray Cat Strut

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: A soft au: Obito comes from a clan of bratty cat shapeshifters but he just keeps wandering around his apartment fire escape because his really burly neighbor Kisame likes to coo and fawn over the soft black one eyed clutz cat that keeps yelling for attention (most of his cousins are fuckin. Panthers or some shit but Tobi's actually useful so :p )

“You’re going out _again_?” Sasuke demands, in that pissy tone that means he’s jealous and hiding it. Obito can differentiate it from all his _other_ pissy tones mostly because of extended exposure, which is one of the reasons he is very much going out again.

“Just because you have to wait until you're outside of city limits to transform doesn’t mean _I_ do,” Obito says, maybe a little smugly. There have to be _some_ benefits to being the only housecat in a family of goddamn _panthers_ , though.

Sasuke gives him a narrow-eyed glare. “I'm going to tell Kakashi,” he warns.

“Kakashi spends half his time in the park chasing balls,” Obito says with a roll of his eyes, stepping out of his jeans dropping his tank top on them as well. “And not just Zabuza’s.”

Sasuke blanches dead-white at that, which was definitely not Obito's intention, and hurls himself back down the hall towards his bedroom. Much more cheerful now, Obito finishes undressing, checks that the window is cracked, and then shifts. The world surges to massive proportions around him, but he just shakes out his fur, scrambles out the tear in the screen, and leaps for the fire escape.

As a small black cat, the sound of footsteps in the apartment above his is clear, and Obito climbs up the metal steps, minding his footing. Harder with one eye, but worth it when the next window comes into view, strung with devil’s ivy and crystals to catch the sun. Obito has a handful of suspicions that the occupant is some flavor of witch, but he’s never had the opportunity to find out one way or the other, and he’s been far too wary to ask the handful of times they’ve met on the stairs.

(Too wary to even make _eye contact_ , but Obito knows precisely how thin his brain-to-mouth filter gets when he’s flustered and he’s never _not_ going to be flustered by someone who looks like _that_ , so it’s pretty much a lost cause trying to interact as a human. Cats are safe, though. Cats don’t need to worry about eye contact and embarrassing themselves in front of their hot neighbor and _human interaction_. Gods, being a cat is so much better.)

As soon as he scrambles up onto the sill, there's a startled sound, and a big, dark-skinned hand comes down, offered up to Obito without pause. “Hey there,” a cheerful voice says. “You came back.”

He’s _shirtless_. Obito is totally going to hell for perving on his defenseless neighbor. At least partly because he doesn’t regret it at all. He rears up on his hind paws, grabbing for the proffered hand, and mews.

Kisame's expression goes gooey in an instant. “Yeah, I missed you, too,” he says, and carefully scoops Obito off the windowsill. “That was a long business trip, wasn’t it?” He glances out the window for a moment, eyes flickering to Obito, and then chuckles and leans over, peering out and down the fire escape. Whatever he’s looking for, he must not see it, because he huffs like he’s exasperated with himself and pulls back.

“Guess the neighbor’s out today,” he tells Obito, more or less cheerfully. “I didn’t think he worked on Fridays.”

Obito blinks, caught off guard. Does Kisame mean _him_? Because he doesn’t work on Fridays, but he hadn’t thought Kisame paid enough attention to his schedule to know that. He opens his mouth, but—cat. No words. Just a mew, and Kisame chuckles, tucks Obito into the crook of his arm and turns away from the bedroom window, calling, “Hey, Nagato! There's someone I want you to meet.”

Nagato? Obito stiffens, wondering if this is a boyfriend, if he’s about to crash face-first into the reality of the fact that Kisame is taken and unavailable and _untouchable_ , and—

“Is it the neighbor you're pining over?” a dry voice asks, just as Kisame pushes the door open. “The one with the eyepatch?”

Obito feels a little like he just got hit over the head with a brick.

“Nagato,” Kisame pouts. “I thought you were going to be nice about that.”

Seated at the kitchen table, a slender redhead sighs, rubbing his forehead. “I _was_ ,” he protests, and sets his cup down, turns—

Violet eyes land on Obito and go wide, and the man chokes. “Kisame, that’s a _shapeshifter_!” he coughs.

 _Fuck_.

Kisame freezes, expression blank. He glances down, and very, very warily Obito looks back up, just in time to see Kisame swallow. “He is?” he asks, and then to Obito, “You _are_?”

Folding his ears back against his head, Obito hunkers down as low as he can go and mews pathetically.

“Aren’t you going to shift back?” Kisame asks, faintly wounded.

Nagato clears his throat, cheeks red. “He could, but he’d be naked,” he says, pushing up from his chair. “I, uh. I should get back to Konan and Yahiko.”

Kisame hardly seems to hear him as he edges backwards towards the entrance. He lifts Obito up, still holding him gently, and stares at him for a long moment, taking in the ragged ear, the scars with their edging of white fur, the one eye. Slowly, red climbs his cheeks, and he closes his eyes for a long moment, blushing like his face is about to catch on fire.

“You’re my neighbor, aren’t you?” he asks sheepishly. “I—sorry about that. I don’t have any weird intentions, I promise. You’re just cute when you're gardening, and it’s nice to hear you humming.”

Obito knows very well that he’s completely tone deaf, so that’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said about his musical attempts. He meows, wriggles out of Kisame's grasp with a twist, because if Kisame can say that the very least Obito can do is face this conversation as a human.

He hits the ground as a human, cheeks on fire, not quite able to meet Kisame's eyes. “Sorry?” he says, casting a quick glance up. “I—I wanted to talk to you but this was easier and I'm a _coward_ , oh gods, I'm so sorry—”

Big hands catch his face, and Kisame tips his head up. When Obito manages to meet his gaze, brown eyes are wide, and he’s staring at Obito with something like wonder, or maybe relief. Maybe even joy.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Kisame asks bashfully. “ _Really_?”

“Desperately,” Obito admits, which is a dramatic word but also the only one that really fits.

Kisame doesn’t recoil, though. He grins, wide and bright, and offers Obito a hand. “Want to stay for tea?” he asks, and then chuckles. “I guess I can't really offer you tuna like this.”

“ _Yes_ ,” Obito says instantly, goes to stand up, and feels a draft. With a squeak, he drops back down, and buries his face in his hands with a groan. “Oh gods. Can I—I'm so sorry, but can I borrow a towel? I'm…really naked.”

Kisame goes crimson to the tips of his ears. “Sure!” he says, and spins around so fast that he nearly trips over a chair. He manages to catch himself as he staggers, then heads for the bathroom at a jog.

Obito keeps his face in his hands and his elbows mostly covering his unmentionables. This is…really, really not how he pictured their first conversation going, though knowing his luck he probably should have.

Then again, he did get an invite to tea, and he now knows that Kisame has a crush on _him_ , on _him, Obito Uchiha_ , so that’s—

Far, far better than Obito ever could have hoped for, honestly. He can live with the circumstances if those are the benefits.


End file.
